Martha Byrne Backstage at the CBS EARLY SHOW

GOTHAM creator and star Martha Byrne appeared backstage at the CBS EARLY SHOW on Saturday morning and was interviewed live on the show's webcast. She spoke about the end of AS THE WORLD TURNS but mostly about the burgeoning new frontier of web series and indie soaps.

On the fans: "What I find very interesting is that they come up with their own ideas about what is going on in the story. That's what we're trying to do as writers, give the fans a participation in the show, to have them have thoughts, "Who's at the door? Who's on the phone? What's going to happen? Who's going to be romantically involved?" It's that wonderful thing about soap operas people are going to miss if they're not there. So we're trying to give them that as much as possible."

On GOTHAM becoming a WGAE signatory show and their interest in web series: "It's an incredible stamp of approval for the future of the genre. It's wonderful."

On the show's shooting schedule: "We shoot four episodes every two months right now. We're on every other Monday. The fans want more and I want to do more. It's a cost issue. It's a time issue. People are doing this on their own time. We do have a full crew, but it's a different way of working right now. We're shooting right now in Hoboken, New Jersey. Everybody is there today working on a Saturday. We want to do a more often but sponsorship will facilitate that."

On her biggest achievement: "My children and my family. Being a good mom and hopefully showing them you can do anything you want to do."

On whether she thinks web-based entertainment will be around long-term: "There's no question in my mind that the web is going to be the future of every single industry. You can already feel it percolating. There's this little bridge and it's coming really soon. By next you're going to see a thousand [web series]. You're going to see it explode. I think you'll see network television collaborating with the internet, kind of double programming."